Picky Picky Bird...

[Pajarita]

All good advice and the only thing I have to add is to try different presentations -which you already figured out but I am talking 'to the extreme'. I have a Congo that will only eat raw carrots if I grate them coarsely. They cannot be in pieces, in sticks, baby or even grated finely. They have to be grated coarsely or she will not eat carrots (she eats them cooked and diced, also -like the ones that come in the 'peas and carrots' bags). Mine love juicy things like pomegranate seeds, oranges, cantaloupe, grapes, blackberries, etc (they won't even look at raspberries -go figure!) but it took me years to get them to eat a semi-good diet so don't give up if she doesn't even look at something for months, keep on offering it and, one day, she will start.

[britmon]

I will have to try some more "juicy" fruits because she absolutely LOVES pomegranates. There will definitely be no giving up ever, I at least hope to get her eating enough to get her to a healthy weight soon. The poor little miss is way too skinny! She's pretty much all keelbone.

[Pajarita]

Oh, dear me, that's not good at all! Has she had a complete physical? Because, at her age, if she is so skinny and used to such a bad diet, the first thing that comes to mind is advanced liver damage. If she hasn't yet, PLEASE have a bile acids test run on her because, if it's liver, you need to know ASAP so you can start treating her (which you will have to do for the rest of her life).

[britmon]

I worry about that as well. I am getting all of her vet documentation today and will look at it but I wasn't planning on a vet visit until December since she has had some testing done recently.

[Pajarita]

Please double check because, for some reason that is completely beyond me, avian vets hardly ever recommend doing a bile acids test and it's the ONLIEST one that tells you how the liver is actually working (the only time it might not work it's when the problem is excessive iron storage in the liver which damages it but does not change the bile acids levels). The avian chemical panel (AVs routinely do a CBC -completely blood count- and a chem panel) checks for liver enzymes (AST - which is not really liver specific but it is what it's normally used to detect liver problems) but the body always tries to keep blood levels good (happens with calcium, too) even if the organ is not working right so you don't even get off values for the enzymes until the liver is only working at 25%.

The other thing I always recommend for older birds (especially the ones on bad diets) is full body Xrays (one from the top or botton and one from the side) because you can see if the liver is enlarged which is a sure sign of a problem.

[britmon]

I definitely will. I tried getting her paperwork Monday but the director couldn't find it/forgot I asked for it until it was time for me to go home. Normally I would have never ever taken her home without her vet paperwork, but she was doing horribly at the rescue I couldn't keep her there any longer. Thankfully she isn't showing any signs so I'm not terrrribly worried but I will definitely get her tested if she hasn't already been.

[Pajarita]

What do you mean by 'signs'? Because weight loss is one of the main symptoms.. What do her ureates look like? are they white, cream colored, yellowish or what?

[britmon]

She's gaining weight back (yay!), her ureates are white and normal-looking, her poop is usually purple from those nasty pellets but look good when they're not, her feathers look super healthy, and her clotting was totally fine when we had the nail problem. She is progressing extremely well so, barring any emergencies, I'll be taking her in for a vet visit in a couple of weeks.